Urban Futures - London (AC) Case Study

Overview of London

Overview of London

• 8.9 million population

• Population grew steadily, dropped, then grew again (urbanisation, counter urbanisation, re-urbanisation)

• Few old people - counter urbanisation for retirement

• Lots of young people (working age) - having children

London’s importance within its region

• Companies are attracted to the region because it is close to London → increases jobs and wealth

  • The South East and East of England are the two biggest regional economies in the UK

London’s importance within the country

• UK capital city

• Essential part of economy

  • Over 20% of UK’s income comes from London

• Centre of UK’s transport system → has road, rail, air and shipping links

London’s importance within the wider world

• A world city '

• A alpha++ city (2) - integrated with the global economy

• Has more foreign banks than anywhere else

• Where headquarters of many large international companies are based

  • E.g. KPMG

• Attracts investment and migrants worldwide

International migration in London

• In 2014, around 100 thousand more people arrived in London than left

National migration in London

• Young adults move for work/study

• Older people move out of the city (counter-urbanisation)

Migration effects on city

• London has top-class universities (e.g. UCL, LSE) so there is a large student population. Students come globally.

  • 20% of students are from overseas

• Population density is very high

  • over 5000 people per km^2

• Character changes → people with the same ethnicity tend to settle in the same place

  • Southall has a large Indian market

Features of London: culture and ethnicity

• International migration → high ethnic diversity

  • Some areas e.g. Chinatown have a high proportion of people from one ethnic bacground → provides food, music so people are attracted

• Many big festivals celebrating different cultures and ethnic backgrounds e.g. the annual Afro-Caribbean Notting Hill Carnival

Features of London: housing

Rich areas (e.g. Sutton - suburbs) have modern apartments/large houses with gardens

Poor areas (e.g. Newham - east London) have high housing density and houses are split to house multiple families

Features of London: leisure

• West End (theatres)

• Museums (e.g. British Museum)

• Art galleries (e.g. National gallery)

• Fashion events (e.g. London Fashion Week)

• Large parks (e.g. Hyde Park)

• Popular visitor attractions (e.g. Tower of London, London Eye)

Features of London: consumption

Consumes a huge amount of resources (e.g. food and water)

Londoners consume nearly 7 million tonnes of food every year, most of it is imported

Challenges: housing availability

• The population is growing rapidly, homes have not been built at the same pace

• House prices are some of the least affordable in the world → workers on lower incomes can’t afford to live near their workplace

• The Mayor of London’s office has calculated 66,000 new homes are needed each year; recent new building has averaged 20,000 per year

Challenges: transport provision

• Roads are often congested

  • Average traffic speed between 7am and 7pm in central London is only 8mph

• Around 1 million people use trains that are overcrowded

• The population increase causes the transport network to be put under considerable strain

Challenges: access to services

• Healthcare → free on the NHS but services are often overwhelmed (waiting times increased, ambulances have to cope with increased traffic)

• Education → best state schools e.g. Holland Park are over-subscribed. Wealthy parents send children to fee-paying schools, poorer parents send children to under-performing schools

Challenges: inequality

• London is home to richest and poorest people in the UK

• Unhealthy lifestyles (e.g. drinking, smoking) is more common in deprived areas → lower life expectancy

  • Poplar is one mile away from Canary Wharf and has a lower life expectancy (79 to 88)

Sustainable solutions for transport provision challenge

• Crossrail (the Elizabeth line) was recently built → increases rail capacity in central London by 10%

• Rail and Underground capacity being increased and running more trains every hour

• Congestion charges → discourages drivers from entering city centre (especially diesel cars)